Best way to build muscle

Archive for the ‘Exercises’ Category

The number of muscle building exercises is huge! There are so many different ones for different muscle groups that you can do different variations of stances, grips etc. It makes for quite an enormous selection of exercises at the disposal for anyone who wants to build muscle.

Of course, some are more effective than others, in fact a lot of people will waste their time on very ineffective exercises when their efforts could be spent doing more productive ones.

The other problem is time, not all of us have much time to spend in the gym which is why it’s very important to spend the time you do have to its maximum effect. Because of this I’ve compiled a list of the top three exercises that will give you most reward in terms of muscle building.

The Squat – This one has it all, it’s versatile and challenging, it can be fun and it is great for building muscle. Not just leg muscle though, the squat is renowned for promoting muscle growth throughout the body. You need three things to do these – a barbell, weights and a squat rack. Now you can get away with doing them without the rack providing you don’t go too heavy, but be prepared to clean the weight first and get it behind your neck which can be tricky with heavier weights!

The squat is the ultimate leg building exercise and your leg workouts should always be based around some form of squat. These can be done with low reps and can be great for strength and power. On the other hand they can be done with high reps, with the most extreme being the twenty rep squat set. The basic idea behind this is that you pick a heavy weight you could normally only do around twelve reps with. You then proceed to pump out twenty reps, pausing between the last five or so to ensure that you get the weight up! Many people have reported amazing size and strength gains by doing this.

The Bench Press – A fantastic upper body builder. This is great for building the chest, shoulder and triceps primarily. Some other muscles get worked as well though because they act as stabilizers. When done with varying sets, reps and rest times, the bench press can bring great results week in and week out. It can also be done on an incline to target the shoulder more or with a reverse grip to target the triceps more.

Because of this the bench press is the most versatile and effective exercise for building upper body mass and strength.

The deadlift – The most effective functional strength exercise in my opinion. The deadlift is so simple and only requires a barbell and lots of weight. If you want to build big legs and a big back then make sure you’re regularly doing deadlifts! They can be a great ego booster as well since the weight your using will normally be well over your own bodyweight.

You can expect very good results in terms of mass and strength by just doing these three exercises alone and I always recommend that people base their workouts out round them for optimal muscle building conditions.